Written Answers Tuesday 15 March 2011

Scottish Executive

Child Poverty

Sandra White (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish the Child Poverty Strategy for Scotland.

Nicola Sturgeon: I am pleased to say that we have published the Child Poverty Strategy for Scotland on 15 March 2011.

Digital Technology

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is regarding the quality of broadband coverage of the highland Perthshire area.

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what its position is regarding the quality of broadband coverage of the eastern Perthshire area.

Jim Mather: Our digital strategy, Scotland’s Digital Future: A Strategy for Scotland , published on 3 March 2011, outlines our ambition for availability of next generation broadband throughout the whole of Scotland, including highland Perthshire, by 2020 with significant progress being made by 2015.

  To achieve this, we are already working with local authorities, enterprise agencies, industry and others to collectively develop a strategic Scotland-wide broadband plan. I jointly hosted a Rural Broadband Summit on 9 March 2011 with the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment to progress this issue, and Perth and Kinross Council were represented at the meeting.

Economy

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has made a submission to the UK Government regarding the national reform programme and, if so, whether it will be placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre.

John Swinney: Scottish Government officials are in regular contact with their Whitehall equivalents on the drafting of the UK National Reform Programme document. In addition, the Scottish Government intends to produce a separate Scottish National Reform Programme document, which will be published on the Scottish Government website and placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 52572).

Employment

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of (a) private and (b) public sector jobs have been lost in each local authority area in the last 18 months.

John Swinney: This information is not held centrally.

Employment

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of people who have lost their jobs in the last 18 months is (a) male, (b) female, (c) under 25, (d) disabled and (e) from black and minority ethnic communities.

John Swinney: This information is not held centrally.

  Using the Annual Population Survey (APS), the change in the number of people employed within each of the groups can be estimated. The most recent APS dataset relates to the period July 2009 to June 2010. To determine the change over an 18 month period, estimates from this dataset have been compared to those from the Jan to Dec 2008 dataset. The results are shown in the following table.

  Table 1: Proportionate Change in Number of Level of People Employed Over 18 Month Period from January to December 2008 to July 2009 to June 2010, Scotland.

  

 
Proportionate Change in Level


Males
-4.3


Females
-0.9


Under 25s
-8.5


Disabled
10.2


Ethnic Minorities
17.0



  Source: Annual Population Survey, Office for National Statistics.

  Notes:

  1. Estimates based on population aged 16 and over.

  2. Data is not seasonally adjusted. As the data being compared do not cover the same calendar periods, it is possible that some change may be due to seasonal changes in employment patterns.

  3. Proportionate change in levels are with reference to the estimates from the Jan-Dec 2008 dataset.

Employment

Hugh Henry (Paisley South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the First Minister’s comments concerning Amazon ( Official Report , c. 33861), what discussion it has had with Scottish Enterprise regarding reports that Amazon sent temporary staff home in the middle of the night without pay because it had no further work for them.

Hugh Henry (Paisley South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of Scottish Enterprise’s role in attracting Amazon’s investment in Scotland as noted by the First Minister ( Official Report , c. 33861), whether it will make representations to Amazon regarding reports that it sent temporary staff home in the middle of the night without pay because it had no further work for them.

Hugh Henry (Paisley South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of Scottish Enterprise’s role in attracting Amazon’s investment in Scotland as noted by the First Minister ( Official Report , c. 33861), what influence it can bring to bear on Amazon regarding reports that it sent temporary staff home in the middle of the night without pay because it had no further work for them.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government supports the implementation of fair employment practices. If Amazon are found to have breached contracts with employees this would be a matter for the Trade Unions in the first instance.

Enterprise

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive who will decide what the criteria are for accessing the Innovation and Investment Fund.

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there will be non-financial criteria for accessing the Innovation and Investment Fund and, if so, what criteria.

Alex Neil: Letters inviting applications to the Innovation and Investment Fund will be circulated within the next week, these will set out the criteria that applications will need to meet. The letters have been drafted in consultation with key stakeholders, including COSLA and the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations.

Enterprise

Jamie McGrigor (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether progress has been made in securing a buyer for the Skykon wind turbine tower factory at Machrihanish.

John Swinney: The First Minister welcomed the announcement on 9 March 2011 that Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) and Marsh Wind Technology have established a joint venture, Wind Towers Ltd, which has submitted a bid to acquire the Skykon Facility and has secured "preferred bidder" status from administrators, Ernst and Young.

  The Scottish Government, Scottish Development International and Highlands and Islands Enterprise have worked closely with SSE and Ernst and Young in order to reach this position

  The joint venture partners will now work through details of their bid.

Enterprise

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the status is of the Intellectual Asset Centre.

Jim Mather: Scottish Intellectual Management Limited (SIAM) is a Company Limited by Guarantee whose core purpose is to operate and manage the Intellectual Assets Centre. SIAM is a subsidiary of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

Enterprise

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Intellectual Asset Centre is encouraged to seek funding from appropriate EU funding programmes.

Jim Mather: The issue of whether the Intellectual Assets Centre is encouraged to seek funding from appropriate EU funding programmes is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise. I have asked the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise to provide the member with a response to the question.

Enterprise

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are any impediments to the Intellectual Asset Centre securing funding from the European Union.

Jim Mather: The issue of whether there are any impediments to the Intellectual Asset Centre securing funding from the European Union is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise. I have asked the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise to provide the member with a response to the question.

Enterprise

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact it considers any reduction in funding from Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise will have on the objectives of the Intellectual Asset Centre in relation to its work on food and drink strategic objectives and protected food names.

Jim Mather: The impact and objectives of the Intellectual Asset Centre in relation to its work on food and drink strategic objectives and protected food names is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. I have asked the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise to provide the member with a response to the question.

Enterprise

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will replace the withdrawn programmes run by the Intellectual Assets Centre that ran in conjunction with the local authorities’ Supplier Developer Programme.

Jim Mather: The issue of replacing withdrawn programmes run by the Intellectual Asset Centre that ran in conjunction with the local authorities’ Supplier Developer Programme is an operational matter for Scottish Enterprise in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise. I have asked the Chief Executive of Scottish Enterprise to provide the member with a response to the question.

Equalities

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it is taking forward its commitment to tackling occupational segregation.

Alex Neil: A comprehensive update on our cross-government work to tackle occupational segregation was included in the Scottish Government’s Gender Equality Scheme annual report 2010 (at Section 2.3). We are currently updating that information for the 2011 annual report, which will be published soon on our website.

  Scottish Government also published reports in July 2010, which give an overview of progress made across public authorities on tackling the Gender Equality Duty Ministerial Priorities - one of which is occupational segregation.

  These (published) reports can be found via links on our occupational segregation webpage:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Equality/18500/OccSeg.

Equalities

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in Scotland since 2007 under each of the articles of the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Alex Neil: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-40271 on 15 March 2011. Scottish Government’s progress, under each of the articles of the UN Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women, will be included in the UK progress report due to be submitted to the UN in May 2011.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Equalities

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will publish its report to the UK Government for its progress report under the Convention to Eliminate all Forms of Discrimination against Women, which is due in May 2011.

Alex Neil: The UK Government is the "state party" with responsibility for co-ordinating input from devolved administrations and publishing a UK progress report. We are fully engaged in the process, first contributing information to the UK Government in November 2010 to enable them to produce a first draft UK report. We expect to receive this soon for our comment and further input.

Equalities

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will provide examples of policy recommendations from each of its directorates that have been amended as a result of equality impact assessments.

John Swinney: Our approach to Equality Impact Assessment (EQIA) focuses on ensuring that analysis of equality evidence is embedded from the beginning of the policy making cycle, and shapes the policy on an ongoing basis. As such we expect policies to be influenced by the process of impact assessment and analysis. There are 33 Directorates in the Scottish Government and we do not collate information centrally on amendments made to policies during this cycle.

  We do however provide centralised on-line publication of equality impact assessments from across the Scottish Government and these can be accessed at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/People/Equality/18507/EQIASearch

  The following case studies provide three examples of instances where policies informed by equality impact assessment have led to specific actions.

  Patients Rights Bill EQIA:

  During consultation on the Bill one of the issues raised was that without the right help and support some groups of people - younger people, older people (especially those with dementia), disabled people (especially those with learning disabilities and mental health problems) - will find it difficult to enforce their rights. After consideration of the impact on the equality groups it was decided to allocate funding to support the provision of advocacy services to ensure that those who need assistance in upholding their rights can access the appropriate support.

  In addition, results from the consultation also suggested that disabled people face significant problems in accessing health care, often due to access and communication issues. Provisions in the Patient Rights Bill place NHS bodies under a duty to allow and encourage patients to participate as fully as possible in decisions relating to their health and well being. After consideration of the equality issues (in particular the impact on disabled people, and people whose first language is not English) the Scottish Government decided to provide funding to NHS Health Scotland to support the development of translation, interpreting and communication services (TICS). Investing in the TICS infrastructure will help to ensure that all patients are aware of their rights, are communicated with in an appropriate manner, and are involved in decisions about their care.

  Drugs Strategy EQIA:

  In developing the EQIA for the national drugs strategy, a lack of evidence about ethnic minority communities’ use of drugs and treatment services was identified. It identified that 99.3% of new patients accessing treatments were not from ethnic minority groups. Anecdotal evidence suggested that drug taking patterns amongst ethnic minority communities were different to those in other communities which, along with the perceived shame associated with drug taking in many ethnic minority communities, meant that people were not accessing services. Officials explored the potential gaps, barriers and needs in service provision for people from ethnic minority communities. It transpired that drug use amongst these communities was as prevalent per head of population as those in other communities. However, of the 227 drugs services operating in Scotland, only one specialised in supporting people from minority ethnic communities. In response, the Drug Policy Unit commenced work to help make services more accessible to ethnic minority communities.

  Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers EQIA:

  The overarching purpose of the Low-cost Initiative for First Time Buyers Shared Equity Schemes is to help first time buyers, on low to moderate incomes, achieve their home ownership aspirations. A key finding from the EQIA for this policy was that Muslims can find it difficult to buy a home if they want to ensure their purchase is compliant with their religious law and beliefs. Therefore, in order to make the benefits of our policy more accessible and reach a greater number of people, we started working with the Islamic Finance Council to make it easier for lenders to offer Shariah-compliant home purchase plans to buyers.

Housing

Mary Mulligan (Linlithgow) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the Affordable Housing Investment Programme funding allocations to local authorities for 2011-12 will be published.

Alex Neil: There will be no formal allocations from the Affordable Housing Investment Programme at local authority level next year, but we aim to allocate funds for the Innovation and Investment Fund in August 2011. Final allocations at individual local authority level will therefore be available after that date.

Local Authorities

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it plans to review or amend guidelines for local authority publicity, in light of recently published guidelines in England.

John Swinney: The Scottish Government has no plans at present to review or amend the guidelines for local authority publicity, however this matter will continue to be kept under review.

Meat Industry

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, in light of the EU Council decision not to take forward plans to label meat from animals that are slaughtered without stunning in different ways from meat that is slaughtered after stunning, what further measures can be taken in Scotland to deliver clear labelling on this issue.

Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government intends to consult with our stakeholders on the implementation of the EU Regulation 1099/2009, which introduces new controls on the protection of animals at slaughter. The issue of slaughter without pre-stunning is one of the areas on which views will be sought. In addition, we will also take the opportunity to consult on the related issue of the labelling of meat produced from animals slaughtered without pre-stunning.

Mental Health

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has a role in (a) monitoring or (b) regulating the use of internet sites that provide advice to people with mental health problems.

Shona Robison: The regulation of the internet is reserved to the UK Government under the Scotland Act 1998.

  The Scottish Government does monitor the use of specific internet sites that provide advice to people with mental health problems which are supported by its partner organisations. For example, on Breathing Space (hosted by NHS 24) and on Well Scotland (hosted by NHS Health Scotland), information such as number of hits, source of hits, and frequency of hits is collected to inform policy.

  Additionally, the Scottish Government actively promotes support to help all people stay safe online, through various national and local initiatives, some of which are listed:

  Get Safe Online is a joint initiative between the UK Government, law enforcement, leading businesses and the public sector. Their website www.getsafeonline.org contains advice to help people stay safe online and to avoid some of the risks and threats which exist.

  The Scottish Government participates in the UK Council for Child Internet Safety, which is committed to improving the safeguards for young people, and published an Action Plan on Child Internet Safety in February 2010, available at:

  http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/02/09154928/0. A second action plan is due to be published in March 2011.

  Skills Development Scotland provides information through the National Learning Opportunities Database on a wide range of IT courses, including courses that help individuals learn about the responsible use of the computers and the internet. ILA Scotland provides funding for people on lower incomes to access a wide range of IT courses.

NHS Expenditure

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the initial revenue resource allocation to NHS Tayside (a) was in 2010-11 and (b) is for 2011-12 and what the percentage increase is.

Nicola Sturgeon: In 2010-11 the initial recurring baseline formula allocation for NHS Tayside was £592.9 million. As usually occurs, some recurrent adjustments were required to be made to this baseline allocation throughout the year.

  The most notable adjustment in 2010-11 was that the initial allocation for 2010-11 included funding for cost of capital. This was subsequently stripped out, as per HM Treasury guidance, boards no longer have to factor in a cost of capital charge (therefore there is no impact on boards not getting funding cover for this area). This decreased boards’ allocation by £12 million and when factoring in some other less significant adjustments, the restated baseline allocation totalled £580.9 million. When using the restated baseline allocation of £580.9 in 2010-11, the uplift is close to 3%.

  In 2011-12 the initial recurring baseline formula allocation for NHS Tayside was £596.4 million. This represents a 2.9% increase on 2010-11 restated baseline figure.

NHS Expenditure

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much NHS Tayside has been allocated from the Change Fund in its initial revenue resource allocation for 2011-12.

Nicola Sturgeon: In 2011-12, NHS Tayside have been allocated £6.2 million from the Change Fund in the initial revenue resource allocation.

NHS Expenditure

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much NHS Tayside has been allocated for loss of prescription charge income in its initial revenue resource allocation for 2011-12.

Nicola Sturgeon: For 2011-12, NHS Tayside has been allocated £4.4 million for loss of prescription charge income.

NHS Expenditure

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the estimated value is of the efficiency savings that NHS Tayside will be required to make in 2011-12, expressed as a percentage of its revenue allocation.

Nicola Sturgeon: Like all boards, NHS Tayside has an Efficient Government target for 2011-12 of 3%. This equates to around £17.9 million of the board’s general allocation of £596.4 million.

NHS Prescriptions

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive (a) how many prescriptions and (b) what average number of prescriptions per person per GP list were dispensed in NHS Tayside in each of the last three years for which information is available.

Shona Robison: The requested figures are provided in the following table:

  

 Financial Year
 (a) NHS Tayside – Total Prescriptions Dispensed
 (b) NHS Tayside – Prescriptions Dispensed per Person on GP Lists


 2009-10
 6,635,000
 15.86


 2008-09
 6,404,000
 15.40


 2007-08
 6,146,000
 14.83

NHS Staff

Helen Eadie (Dunfermline East) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much each NHS board spent on locum doctors in (a) 2006-07, (b) 2007-08, (c) 2008-09 and (d) 2009-10.

Nicola Sturgeon: Information on expenditure on agency locum doctors is shown in the following table:

  

 NHS Board
 2006-07
 2007-08
 2008-09
 2009-10


 Ayrshire and Arran
£5,733,592
£6,017,043
£2,048,004
£3,583,996


 Argyll and Bute
 -
£497,896
£380,018
£0


 Borders
£398,530
£422,522
£299,016
£542,367


 Dumfries and Galloway
£1,579,143
£1,680,058 
£1,382,631
£2,735,478


 Fife
£1,621,714
£1,581,676
£2,235,818
£2,708,564


 Forth Valley
£1,979,891
£1,484,407
£1,390,000
£1,499,487


 Greater Glasgow and Clyde 
£1,605,703
£2,836,492
£6,408,816
£7,288,868


 Grampian 
£448,602
£2,644,764
£2,934,454
£3,276,282


 Highland
£1,941,441
£2,442,900
£3,018,694
£3,408,344


 Lanarkshire 
£1,564,088
£1,772,429
£3,069,234
£3,069,551


 Lothian
£1,152,867
£2,169,541
£2,771,294
£4,999,299


 Orkney 
£695,603
£328,206
£1,070,737
£729,686


 Shetland
 -
£283,298
£307,424
£433,838


 Tayside
£788,902
£581,694
£1,055,830
£2,054,320


 Western Isles
£188,488
£468,153
£645,209
£614,046


 Total
£19,598,566
£25,211,082
£28,557,535
£36,892,619



  Source: NHS National Services Scotland National Procurement data collected from NHSScotland boards accounts payable information.

  To reduce the use and costs of agency locum doctors we have reminded Chief Executives of the importance of following the existing Code of Practice on the employment of supplementary medical staff in order to ensure patient safety and achieve best value for money. Guidance has also been issued to NHS boards for action on reducing the demand for supplementary medical staff and, where their use is unavoidable, to ensure that they are high quality and affordable. The guidance describes the steps necessary to reduce demand for supplementary staff and the development of medical banks at NHS board or regional level.

  In addition, NHS National Services Scotland National Procurement put in place a new framework contract for the procurement of agency medical staff, which should make the process easier and more cost-effective.

National Health Service

Hugh O'Donnell (Central Scotland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the cost to the NHS has been of medication made up in pharmacies but not collected in each year since 2007.

Shona Robison: Prescription data available centrally relate to numbers and cost of items dispensed by community pharmacists and dispensing doctors. Data on items prescribed but not dispensed are not collected centrally.

Procurement

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many contracts it has agreed under Article 19 of the EU procurement directive.

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many contracts local authorities have agreed under Article 19 of the EU procurement directive.

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many contracts public bodies other than local authorities have agreed under Article 19 of the EU procurement directive.

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps it has taken to encourage public bodies to use Article 19 of the EU procurement directive.

John Swinney: Article 19 only applies when the contract value is above the relevant EU threshold. The Government has not awarded any contracts under Article 19 and does not currently hold information on contracts with supported businesses or contracts awarded under Article 19 across the wider public sector.

  We have however placed contracts with a value under the EU threshold with third sector suppliers (we use Capability St Judes to provide laundry services to Marine Scotland in Aberdeen) and part of the imminent call off from the collaborative Cleaning Framework, for the Scottish Fire Services College requirement, will be sourced from suitable supported businesses.

  We are also encouraging our main suppliers to engage with supported businesses and other third sector suppliers with regards to possible subcontracting opportunities. For example, our design and print contractor (APS, the main provider to the core Scottish Government and to a large number of collaborative partners) is currently working with Scottish Braille Press and Deaf Connections. APS are also opening up lines of communication with both Erskine and Remploy with a view to adding them to their roster of sub-contractors if the services they offer meet their requirements.

  The Scottish Government is taking steps to raise awareness of Article 19 within the buyer community and encourage its use. For example:

  In 2010 the British Association of Supported Employment, in partnership with the Scottish Government, published a brochure Supported Businesses in Scotland, which provides guidance to buyers on the use of Article 19 and provides details of the 24 Supported Businesses based in Scotland along with the products and services they can supply;

  Supported Businesses exhibited at the Scottish Government’s National Procurement Conference held at the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre in October 2010;

  A new facility has been added to Public Contracts Scotland which automatically alerts buyers when a supported business can fulfil the requirements of their planned contract, and gives them the opportunity to reserve the contract under Article 19; This facility will also capture information on the number of contracts being awarded to third sector organisations and supported businesses through Public Contracts Scotland in future; and

  We are working collaboratively with supported businesses and their representatives to explore what more the Scottish Government could do to assist them during these difficult times.

Regional Selective Assistance

Marlyn Glen (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much was offered to firms in Dundee in Regional Selective Assistance in 2009-10.

Jim Mather: Regional Selective Assistance amounting to £1,076,000 was offered to seven businesses in Dundee during 2009-10.

  Information on accepted offers can be found within the report section of the Scottish Business Grants website at:

  http://www.scottishbusinessgrant.gov.uk/rsa/178.html.

Social Care

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has discussed with COSLA possible implications for charges for non-residential care arising from the UK Government’s proposed changes Disability Living Allowance.

Shona Robison: I can confirm that Scottish Government officials have been in discussion with COSLA about the possible implications of the UK Government’s proposed changes to Disability Living Allowance. These discussions have included the potential implications for non-residential care charges.

  I can further confirm that the Deputy First Minister has written to the UK Minister for Disabilities expressing concern about the impact of proposed changes to Disability Living Allowance on devolved policies and services.

Tax

Dr Richard Simpson (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how much (a) it saved between 1 December 2008 and 31 December 2009 and (b) extra it will spend between 5 January and 31 December 2011 due to changes to the rate of VAT, broken down by (i) directorate and (ii) public body.

John Swinney: VAT is the responsibility of individual public bodies and as such information on their VAT costs is not held centrally.

  Figures are available in relation to savings in VAT paid in respect of the Scottish Government's own VAT registration, covering core activities. These figures exclude NHS boards, local authorities and non-departmental public bodies.

  During the period January 2009 to December 2009 the saving in expenditure resulting from the reduction in VAT from 17.5% to 15% was:

  Period January 2009 to December 2009

  

 Directorate General
 Saving £ million


 Economy and Chief Economic Adviser
 0.14


 Education
 0.23


 Health and Chief Executive NHS Scotland
 0.29


 Justice and Communities
 0.81


 Permanent Secretary
 0.33


 Rural Affairs, Environment and Services
 1.32


 Total
 3.12



  In relation to extra costs during 2011 as a result of the VAT increase, I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-34796 on 14 July 2010. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Scottish Parliament Procurement

John Scott (Ayr) (Con): To ask the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, further to the answer to question S3W-39203 by Alex Johnstone on 9 February 2011, whether any of the assured farms that supplied it with milk and dairy products in 2010 were paid below (a) 24.36 pence per litre or (b) their production cost.

Alex Johnstone: The farms that supplied the milk and dairy products in 2010 were paid above 24.36 pence per litre and their production cost.